Multiple Choice Finals

Mr. Lynch has mounds of finals to grade because:
a) he is really slow at reading essays
b) he is really dumb for assigning so much writing
c) he is really a committed teacher who wants to challenge his students
d) he is feeling guilty that he has not given enough writing to his student over the course of the semester.

What was I thinking? I have five classes, created and administered final exams to all of them. One would expect that creating multiple choice tests are the easy way to go. For my third period world history class I used about 50 questions from past tests and made up or gleaned from the Internet fifty more. The difficulty was double checking the answers. It took about four hours to put this test together then create a key for three different forms. Each of those forms had 14 different questions on it. Nevertheless my grades for period 3 are finished.

1.The primary accomplishment of the Persian Empire was to
A) promote an expansion of trade amounting to "commercial revolution."
B) unify the Nile, Mesopotamian, and Indus valleys into a single state.
C) create the most highly centralized state since the Old Kingdom of Egypt.
D) subdue the Greek city-states around the Aegean Sea.

I created 50 multiple choice questions for two classes of my Freshmen English class. Then I had them hand in their final version of their Autobiographical Incident. I was smart enough to have them read the papers to the class for the final. But I still must go through 50 of their papers for mechanical errors. That will take about three hours if I am lucky.

I also created 50 multiple choice for my sophomores. Those answers were difficult to look up. I did find the text of the book on line and it helped me with some of the more obscure questions in the Lord of the Flies. My big mistake was to assign not one but two in class writings for these two classes of 30 students each. At this moment classes are finished for the semester. I just took a tamale lunch break and put off the next group of papers by writing in my blog. I have read 30 self evaluations and need to read 30 more. I think that I can do that in about an hour. But then I have 60 essays on 30 different topics in Lord of the Flies.

10. Why do Jack and his hunters attack Ralph and Piggy?
a) They want to steal Piggy's glasses.
b) They want to steal the conch.
c) They want to intimidate them into joining their tribe.
d) They want to take control over the fire.

My deadline is to leave at 3 P.M. for a faculty music party that has already begun. I will finish all of this grading sometime in the next two weeks. It would be better soon, as I might not finish at all if I leave it to later.